Hi everyone, I've held a belief in Wicca for many years & finally have the freedom to practice & investigate my belief fully now.I'm looking forward to making some friends who can help & guide me along my way.

At present I do have a question about familiars as I was blessed with a little boxer cross rescue dog year ago called 'Willow' who passed away from me. I have currently reached a new beginning in my life & I rescued a small jack russell cross dog - apart from her face she is identical to Willow, from her coat to her mannerisms to her complete devotion to me & my son. I am very curious as to whether Willow's spirit has found her way back to me?

Well many animals have the same mannerisms and devotion if they have been trained before you rescued them, but I'm not saying it's not possible, it is entirely possible. You have to trust your own intuition with this stuff.

thanks Oakgrove, very true, it just seems too coincidental to be virtually be the same - but like you suggest I'll follow my instincts on this, it doesn't change how much she is loved & cherished in our home

I'm not sure where the idea that a pet is the same as a familiar came from. I guess I have to blame it on some of the crop of poorly researched books on the market these days. But the fact of the matter is that our beloved pets and a Witch's familiar are very, very different things.

A Witch's familiar is an animal spirit or a magical construct created by the Witch or the Magician as an adjunct to their magical workings, as a repository for power, and if needed as a defense against magical attack from another magic user. A Witch or a magician can draw upon the energies of the familiar when they need an extra boost of energy in a magical working. Conceivably if the spell is important enough, the Witch could completely drain the familiar of energy causing it to "die" or cease to exist. And in the case of a magical attack, the attack could be diverted to the familiar so that it would be the familiar which is destroyed rather than the magic user. None of these are things that I think any of us would want to do with our pets.

There is an excellent article on familars here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Familiar_spirit

Animals are very sensitive to the energies around them and they may be drawn to us when we are working magic because they can sense the energy. They also want to be around their people, which again will make them want to be where we are..and that may be where we are doing magic. Neither of these things makes the animal a familiar or inherently magical in and of itself.

That's not to say at all that the spirit of Willow hasn't found a way to return to you and perhaps to be your animal guide. But an animal guide is not the same thing as a familiar.

Thanks Lark, that was very informative & has cleared it up for me, I will look into both subjects but I must agree that I certainly wouldn't want to draw on her energy or cause her as your say to 'die' in that sense. I understand a little more now about the difference between the two & will definitely be reading up on them more. Thank you so much for your help